TAMPA, Fla. — When it's time to revamp the online banking and mobile presence, one CU believes members must play an active role in the effort.
GTE Financial just launched its GTE VIP (Virtual Innovation Panel) team, a 15-person focus group comprised of CU members. The panel is tasked with providing ongoing feedback over the next year about their likes, dislikes, needs and more when it comes to online financial services. Chad Burney, chief information officer and SVP of virtual banking, said the team is critical to the project's success.
"You can't simply guess, or even do a one-time poll, to determine what your users want, because you will miss the mark," said Burney, who explained the panel will meet at GTE headquarters once each quarter next year to chat with high level management and IT developers. "Between the meetings we will ask them questions, send them surveys... this is a group we will be reaching out to on an ongoing basis."
To make the team easier to connect with, and to provide them with a nice thank-you gift, GTE handed out iPad minis and will use the Yammer enterprise social networking service to stay connected. "This will be a very engaged focus group — a focus group on steroids," said Burney.
Earlier this year GTE placed a message on its online banking site, talking to members about the focus group and asking those interested to apply. Applicants answered a short list of questions about their online and mobile banking experiences and completed a brief essay on why they wanted to be part of the team.
"From that group we pulled out about 90 people we thought were good choices and invited them to come to the credit union in October for a meet-and-greet," said Burney. "About 40 showed up."
At the dinner, the $1.6 billion CU talked with the members to understand their views on technology, learn their comfort and skill with online tools and determine how well they might work in a group.
"We wanted people who were not afraid to speak their mind, but not someone who would dominate a conversation," said Burney.
From there the credit union narrowed the team to the final 15, looking for a cross section of male and female, old and young, tech savvy and web challenged. "We want to make sure that all types of our members are represented," said Burney.
The team had its first meeting in November, and Burney said the group worked very well together and with executives and developers. "This is a very good start," said Burney about the project that will pick a new team every year.
The group was given gas cards to pay for trips to the meetings. "The iPads were something extra we did not tell them was coming. We only told them they would be reimbursed for their mileage because we did not want anyone signing on just to pick up the iPad. We wanted members to join because they want to help the credit union get this effort right."
Burney said GTE will not only lean on the group to provide the right virtual tools, functionality and experience members need, but also to make sure the CU does not deliver too much.
"We have to be very careful here, as the group told us that sometimes they do not need a Ferrari, they just need enough to get from point A to point B," said Burney. "There is a lot to be said for online and mobile tools that are simple and easy to use."
